Network energy from a single session, not from data volume.

Based on Mytton, Lundén & Malmodin (2024), Network energy use not directly proportional to data volume, J. Ind. Ecol. 28(4), 966–980. doi:10.1111/jiec.13512

Network type

Inputs

Streaming bitrate 4 Mbps

Pick a typical activity, or drag the slider:

Connection capacity 100 Mbps

Maximum line speed of the broadband subscription

People sharing this connection 1

The router's always-on power is split across the household

Session duration 1.0 h

Total power

Total energy

0Wh

Baseline (always-on) vs. marginal (caused by this session)

Baseline: 0 Wh Marginal: 0 Wh

Component breakdown · power

Carbon footprint

In which country are you?

The key insight. Network energy is overwhelmingly baseline — the equipment runs at near-constant power whether you stream or not. The additional energy caused by your session (the marginal component) is tiny. This is why kWh/GB averages overstate the impact of data-heavy activities. Default parameter values are taken directly from the paper (Section: Accurate network energy calculations using the power model).